Risk of Losing Self-referrals

[SORS]

Since Zazzle encourages us to feature other designers’ products in our own stores, does that increase the risk of losing future self-referrals by sending customers to other shops? Has anyone actually seen referral success from promoting others in their store?

[Sara_H]

@SORS  Where have you seen this? I've never seen them encourage us to feature other designer's products in our own stores.

They are our stores.

You can earn  referrals promoting other designer's products in the marketplace

https://www.zazzle.com/sell/affiliates

[SORS]

I may be mistaken on this.  Maybe administration can clarify this.  I know that other stores have posted my products in their collections. The question still remains, by promoting other stores links, are we increasing the likelihood of not getting future self-referrals because of the cookies? 

[Martin]

I understand what you are saying, but I don't know the answer.

I have worked with others where we each create a collection that includes all our relevant products. Only did it once to see what happened, the answer was nothing.😁

[Cat]

I'm confused too. How would you promote another designer's work in your store? Only thing I can think of is by including other designer's works in a collection. Is that what you mean?

[SORS]

Yes, by adding their product to your collections...or creating special collections for other designers.  I'm curious as to how that might effect self-referrals.   I know that my products have been shared in other stores. Maybe they can chime in here. 🙂 

[Cat]

It's an interesting question. I've never done that (added other designers' work to a collection), but in general I think that self-referrals are a gamble, and since Zazzle doesn't give us any way to track if one of our clean links resulted in a sale of someone else's product (a $0 referral) there really isn't any way to track it.

[SheaPrints]

I'm wondering about this too, but with a different scenario! If a customer, with no cookies, visits your product on Pinterest via a clean self-referral link, you get the self referral for a direct purchase. But, if they browse other creator/designer products (within the Zazzle site) before purchasing, do you lose the self-referral?

As long as a customer doesn't clear their cookies, a referral lasts 14 days (45 days if they're not referred again). However, from my understanding this only applies to cross-promotion links, as self-referrals don't have ambassador IDs attached.

[Sara_H]

@SheaPrints  You don't earn anything if they come through on your clean link and purchase somebody else's product.

[SJoy]

I think @SheaPrints means if the customer comes in on a clean link, then shops around at other products but comes back and purchases the same product they came in on the clean link with. I wonder if by leaving the page that broght them in with the clean link in the first place automatically overwrites it with a Z cookie so that if a customer shops around but then comes back and purchase the original product it would already be marked 3rd party. So many questions. If Z would have been more informative and transparent about the changes and the positive goals they are trying to reach through these changes in the first place, designer wouldn't be left in the muck of the dark speculating and worrying about the future of that hard work that many have put into this daily, yearly, and beyond.

[SheaPrints]

Yes that is what I'm wondering!

[ColsCreations]

 If a customer, with no cookies, visits your product on Pinterest via a clean self-referral link, you get the self referral for a direct purchase. But, if they browse other creator/designer products (within the Zazzle site) before purchasing, do you lose the self-referral?

No.

As long as a customer doesn't clear their cookies, a referral lasts 14 days (45 days if they're not referred again). However, from my understanding this only applies to cross-promotion links, as self-referrals don't have ambassador IDs attached.

The updated Ambassador FAQS make it clear that this "cookie" period applies to both types of referrals.

[SheaPrints]

Thanks @ColsCreations , I missed that! But does the 'Referral Commission' apply only to the original linked product? If the customer chooses a different product in your store (that you created), do you still earn a self-referral?

[ColsCreations]

Yes. You will get the credit on any item of yours that they buy. (This is also in the updated FAQs.)

[SheaPrints]

Thanks again 😊. I've found it now in the FAQs. I did look before, but not thoroughly enough!

[Heather]

Hi @SORS - Referred Sales are tracked based on how the Customer arrives at Zazzle—whether through your Self-Promotion Links, a Zazzle advertisement, or other sources. Referrals are tracked using cookies and other technologies lasting 45 days. If someone purchases within 45 days after clicking your Link (and has not clicked another Referral Link since then), you earn the Referral Commission. With the launch of the Ambassador Program, we've extended the referral window to two weeks, meaning you'll receive credit for any qualifying sales that happen within 14 days of someone clicking your Referral Link. This is a meaningful improvement: the majority of Zazzle shoppers make a purchase within this extended timeframe, so your efforts are protected for longer. After two weeks, if a customer clicks another referral link, that new link becomes the active referral, and commission credit will be reassigned accordingly. If you use a Self-Promotion Link and you're the original referrer, you will receive Referral Commission for your products. If you use a Cross-Promotion Link and you're the original referrer, you will receive Referral Commission for other Creators products if you choose to promote theirs. 

[MaggieA]

@Heather But what about "the other technologies" at play here (mentioned in the updated Ambassador FAQ).

I had a new product, not yet posted on Pinterest or blog, sent the link to a friend who bought the product, clearing all cookies and I even think the purchased through an "incognito window" in her browser and yet it listed on my report as "3rd referral".

Can you please tell me how this happens? Does those "other technologies" override the use private browsing? 

Zazzle would not have had that sale if I had not sent her the link, yet I did not get the referral income from that sale, which in my humble opinion, is not fair at all. 

[Cat]

I don't know what these "other technologies" are, but it sure sounds like they are setting some sort of flag inside of the customer account (server side) rather than just relying on browser cookies. So nothing you do on the browser end can override that setting. Basically, the referrals follow the customer, not the product. 

I think this system makes sense if you're looking at it from the perspective of a random customer "discovering" the Zazzle site, browsing until they find a product they like, and buying something. In that case, the referral should go to the entity that enabled the customer to discover the site.

But the system totally breaks down if you're using Zazzle as a POD fulfillment service where you're sending a specific customer to the site for the sake of purchasing a specific product. That can apply in a whole variety of different settings - you could be a wedding planner sending someone a link to a custom-made product, you could be a fine artist using Zazzle to sell prints from your own website, you could be someone creating a specific product for a friend. There are any number of situations where this could apply, and with the current system there is just no way to control the royalty you'll make on those sorts of sales, because you have no way of controlling whether the customer has an existing Zazzle account and if so, what referral flags might be set there. 

I think Zazzle really needs to address this angle because if they don't, then creators wanting to operate under the second scenario are simply going to use a different POD for fulfillment. IMHO the easy solution would be to exempt "direct-only" (private) products from marketing fees so that people could actually control their royalties for these situations. So far there's no indication that Zazzle intends to do that, so I just think we have to adjust our practices accordingly.